Four reasons to go beyond Facebook for social networking

With over one billion users worldwide, you'd think that Facebook pretty much has a lock on social networking online.

It's true that the Palo Alto, California-based tech giant is still our go-to place to connect with friends and family online. Facebook isn't going away anytime soon.

That being said, there's more than a few people out there that think Facebook's not working so well.

Criticism of Facebook has grown considerably over the past year, with complaints ranging from the site being much more interested in investors than a great user experience, or that user privacy is becoming decidedly (and unnervingly) less important to Facebook's management team.

But what's the most troubling complaint? Facebook isn't cool anymore.

In response to these claims, there's some tech entrepreneurs that have decided to use the one element that made Facebook so valuable in its early days at Harvard University — exclusivity — and apply it to their own start-up businesses.

These businesses are so-called niche social networks. They're sites that take a person's need to connect with others online and cater directly to a very specific interest, community or lifestyle.

Of course, there's plenty of reasons to get excited about the possibilities of these sites, once you consider the major ways in which they differ from Facebook.

They're often more sensitive to a specific part of the world

It's no secret that the Web as a whole is dominated by English and American sites. This can be frustrating for some Web users in countries that don’t speak the language, as it can set up artificial barriers to accessing a service.

Facebook's always presented itself as a universal social network. Indeed, it's still the world's social networking powerhouse.

Yet there's a bunch of social networking sites out there that cater specifically to a region’s needs: VK, formerly known as Vkontakte, is hugely popular in Russia. Google’s original attempt at social networking prior to Google+, Orkut, is still going strong in Brazil. Most interesting of all is a social networking site aimed at Islamic users, called Salamworld. These sites all offer something that Facebook cannot: a sense of community that feels more authentic to users that don't want to feel like a number in the vast ocean of Facebook users.

They're very exclusive and don't really want billions of users

One of the biggest selling points for a business in the digital era is the ability for it to sell a vision of itself as specialized, customized to an individual's needs. Niche social networks are cashing in on this phenomenon. There's money to be made in focusing in like a laser beam on a very, very small niche and giving them what they want. It's also a big win for users, who get to surround themselves with people of like-mind.

A strong example of this is a niche social network called Best Of All Worlds, which caters directly to the "top one percent" of all Internet users. It's a service that wants to be a trend-setter and get the creative class on board, away from Facebook.

The site's creator, Erik Wachtmeister, said in a statement regarding the site's audience:

The larger point here is that Wachtmeister has identified that targeting exclusive audiences is not just good for the user, but very good for business.

They're often a lot more fun than Facebook is now

Everyone's got their passions online. Whether it's food, fashion or fitness, a lot of people are looking for ways to connect with each other to share in their hobbies or interests.

Many niche social networks have emerged over the past few years that fit the bill. One great example of this is Battle.net, a gaming platform that also doubles as a social network. The site has gone so far as to integrate the social aspects of gaming into titles like the upcoming Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm.

Battle.net is for computer gamers, yet there's a good chance if you have any kind of passionate interest, there's a niche social network out there to meet your needs. Everything from sites focused on comics to music to physical fitness is out there, ready to be connected to.

They're more useful, task-oriented and do more for your everyday life than Facebook

Anyone that's spent even a small amount of time on Facebook knows it is an enormous time suck. It can be extremely addictive, but not always for good reasons. People have limited time in their daily lives, so why not build out niche social networks that have a purpose?

CafeMom is an example of one of these sites, where mothers can talk to each other in a community-based environment and offer parenting tips, personal support and advice.

A big trend in social networking has been the rise of charitable social networking sites, such as Kiva or Care2 — niche sites that offer users the ability to donate money, organize for philanthropic purposes and rally around a cause.

While Facebook might be more pervasive than some of these niche sites, there's no doubt that sites like Care2 or CafeMom give users something that Facebook can't: an exclusive meeting place that puts people's ideas into real action.

With so many ads and other things you aren't interested in now clogging up your Facebook feed, can you really say it's making your life better?

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